Self-deception as a Philosophical Problem

Abstract

To varying degrees the philosophical problem of self-deception has occupied philosophers from Plato to Nietzsche. Do we deceive ourselves or not? If so, in what circumstances do we deceive ourselves or let some others deceive us? What consequences may it have? Is it something that we should avoid or can it have positive consequences for the person? Such questions find many of their answers in a debate between intentionalist and non-intentionalist theories. However, I distinguish here between the cognitive and the ethical aspect of the problem, argue that this distinction has not been respected as much as it might have been in recent philosophy, and explore the ways in which literary treatments of self-deception may help us to distinguish its ethical dimension more clearly. By ethics I refer both to the relationship of self and other and to that of self to self.

“I have done that,” says my memory. “I cannot have done that,” says my pride, and remains inexorable. Eventually, memory yields.

—Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil